Blog Action Day

So today as part of Blog Action Day we bloggers are blogging about the environment and how it affects us.  I arrived into the office at 9am, walked by at least 10 machines that were left on standby over the weekend. 

Turn the bloody things off or face the wrath of the 15K bloggers and the 12M readers of those blogs.  Be wary, members of the group are watching...    

China goes green, well, attempts it

"Just outside Shanghai, there is an island about the size of Manhattan. China is going to build its first ever 'green city', complete with no gasoline/diesel powered vehicles, 100% renewable energy, green roofs, and recycling everything. The city is called Dongtan and it should house about 5,000 people by the end of 2010, with estimates of 500,000 by 2050. The goal is to build a liveable city that is energy efficient, non-polluting, and protects the wildlife in the area." 

It should be known, 5000 people is considered a village in China, 5 million is considered a third tier city.  It's impact will be the equivilant to a drop in the ocean of pollution that is emenating from that side of the world.  These types of projects should not be confined just to China, but to the consumers of the products that China is pumping out tonnes of pollution in order to make.  People keep complaining about China's pollution, in reality the blame should be attributed to the people who want goods at a low cheap price and who are willing to damage the environment to achieve them.

I do applaud their efforts, I just wish that they could make more of an effort on a larger scale to make this project meaningful.  People always tell me that China is a great country, their breath is taken away when they discuss the various projects underway in China.  Perhaps they should be setting a high bar for the rest of the world to follow for once instead of just playing it safe and doing what is expected.